


And the Kitchen Sink (Budae jjigae Recipe)

by AughtPunk



Category: Overwatch (Video Game)
Genre: An Excuse for Me to Cook This Recipe, Budae jjigae, Comfort Food, Cooking, D.va and Winston Broing it Out, Food, Food as a Metaphor for Love, Gen, Hana "D.Va" Song Has PTSD, Hana "D.Va" Song Is a Little Shit, Hana "D.Va" Song is an Army Vet, Korean Army Stew, Korean Food, Recipes, Winston Cannot Understand Humans
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-18
Updated: 2020-02-18
Packaged: 2021-02-27 23:15:09
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,154
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22793851
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AughtPunk/pseuds/AughtPunk
Summary: Winston is used to fielding strange questions from the Overwatch Agents. That being said he's rather taken aback when Hana walks into his lab in the middle of the night and asks "Can gorillas eat meat?".(Or: A homesick D.Va shares an important meal with the people she loves. People and Gorillas.)
Relationships: D.va is Everyone's Best Friend, Even if they don't know it - Relationship, Hana "D.Va" Song & Everyone, Hana "D.Va" Song & Winston
Comments: 13
Kudos: 71





	And the Kitchen Sink (Budae jjigae Recipe)

**Author's Note:**

> I think I've officially been part of more zines that have crashed and burned than been successfully published at this point.
> 
> Originally for the [Overcooked Zine!](https://zebrafeets-art.tumblr.com/post/190853486171/sup-everyone-i-emerge-from-the-dead-for-an) Be sure to click on that link to get a pdf of the zine and to read the delicious fandom drama surrounding its demise.

Winston rather enjoyed working in the quiet hours of the night. As much as he loved his friends, he also enjoyed being able to work without interruption. Even on days with no missions planned there was always something that needed to be done, fires to be put out, things to be fixed, and occasional literal fires to be put out. At that moment, Winston had been fiddling with one of the many feral cleaning robots when he heard a knock at his lab’s door.

“Hey DK, can gorillas eat meat?” Hana stood in the doorway still wearing the clothes she was wearing the day before. There was a slight wobble to her legs suggesting exhaustion but Winston knew better than to command she go to bed. When Hana first joined up, Mercy spoke with him about the young woman’s chronic nightmares. She had confirmed that they weren’t bad enough to make Hana unfit for combat. Still, Winston worried every time he saw stream until the early hours of dawn.

“No?” Winston asked, putting the cleanbot back in its cage. “Well, some eat insects and snails, and there has been evidence to suggest some may eat chimpanzees, but there’s counter-evidence that says the chimpanzee DNA found in the stool samples was the result of the gorillas eating ants which had previously eaten the corpses of chimpanzees!”

Hana did not respond. Instead, she stood there, swaying and staring at him in silence. Only then did he realized that he had once again said The Wrong Thing. A very common issue he faced when speaking with humans. Mission briefings? Those was fine. Laboratory analysis? No problem! Not knowing when he should or shouldn’t comment on a new haircut? Winston was lost at sea without a map, paddle or sail. 

“I believe,” came Athena’s voice from above, “she wishes to know if _you_ eat meat.”

“Oh!” Winston adjusted his glasses. “Yes, yes I can. I prefer the protein supplements Athena designs for me, but meat is acceptable.”

“Great!” Hana shouted as she perked up. Her statement did not answer any questions that were bubbling up within Winston.

Winston locked the cage before turning fully to Hana. “Do you need help eating meat?”

Hana shrugged. “Kinda? Well, no. I mean. Yeah? I want to make budae jjigae but I can’t do it alone. And since everyone else is either asleep on or the other side of the planet, I was wondering if you’d like to help?”

“Of course! I’m more than happy to assist you with your b-- boo--”

“Budae jjigae,” said Athena with authority. “Also known as Korean Army Stew, it is mainly comprised of--”

Hana pointed in the vague direction of Athena’s voice. “Shh! Don’t ruin the surprise! Now, Mr. Cowboy said that there’s like, a whole bunch of old food rations stored somewhere on base?”

Winston nodded. “Warehouse five. Why?”

Hana grinned, the exhaustion finally leaving her eyes,“Because, if we’re going to make budae jjigae we have to do it the right way.”

***

Every Watchpoint was built with a single goal in mind: to survive another Omnic Crisis if history decided to repeat itself. This included water and food supplies that would outlast most of the current agents and possibly their children’s children. 

Hana spread their warehouse bounty across the kitchen counter almost glowing with pride. A few half-empty containers and bottles from the shared refrigerator were added to the pile. Winston picked up a glass of kimchi covered in scrawlings of DO NOT EAT in Reinhardt’s handwriting. He showed the bottle to Hana who shrugged in response. 

“Gramps might be all sauerkraut-or-death when people are around, but I know about his deep dark secret. And he totally ate the last of my kimchi, so it’s totally fair game. Now, go grab some baking sheets while I prep the tofu. And maybe break out another cutting board. This recipe is mostly chopping.” 

Winston did his best to assist Hana in the too-small-for-him kitchen. He got the baking sheets, another cutting board, a knife, and then a knife that wasn’t mostly covered in rust. He placed them down next to five containers half filled with different types of mushrooms. “Is this recipe from that cooking video game? The one with the very angry woman?”

“First, Cooking Mama loves me and thinks my food is better than hers,” Hana said as her knife made short work of the block of tofu. “Second, no. I know, I know, it’s totally shocking that something in my life doesn’t revolve around video games. My old buddy Kyung-soo taught me this recipe after I kicked his butt in Smash Brothers. So. Um. Yeah, video game related, I guess.” She grabbed one of the cooking trays and laid out a layer of tofu slices on top of paper towels. Hana repeated this a few times, finishing with another paper towel layer and the second cooking sheet. Much to Winston’s surprise, she placed the metal-paper-tofu sandwich onto the floor and waved at it. “Take a seat!”

Winston starred at Hana. This was one of those weird human things, wasn’t it? Like their obsession with loudly talking about the weather whenever things got too quiet. Not to mention all of the various conversational add-ons like if the weather was better or worse yesterday, what the weather was like this time last year, and the likelihood of Athena’s weather predictions for the next day being accurate. He must have been musing too long over human quirks because Hana cleared her throat and continued, “I need you to press down on the tofu to get all of the extra moisture out while I prep everything else.”

“I see.” Winston shuffled over and did as Hana asked. This may be the strangest thing he’s done since he joined Overwatch. “Is there anything else I can do to help?”

Hana grabbed a small onion off the food pile and began to chop. “Have any good stories about the old days? Preferably dumb or embarrassing ones?”

Winston pondered the question, mentally skimming over his memories of the old days. Knowing Hana’s humor was most likely not science or math related, he fell back on a topic all the agents enjoyed. “Like the time Jesse tried to put his cigar out in a vase of flowers not knowing they were silk and ended up throwing the burning vase out the window right as Morrison was walking by?”

“That--, wow, yes.” Hana’s eyes lit up as she fumbled for her phone. “Every detail, please!”

Winston settled back, hoping that the tofu wouldn’t get fully crushed under his weight as he told a story or two. 

***

“Ta-da!” 

An hour and a short list of all of the times McCree had set something on fire later, Hana removed the lid of the large cooking pot with a flourish. Inside bubbled a sea of ingredients that only somewhat seemed to go together. The mushrooms, onions, tofu, and stock clashed violently with the hot dogs, bacon, and spam that Hana added with a wink and a, “Trust me.” Even the kimchi, fish sauce, and red pepper paste seemed to Winston as if they were supposed to go in a different dish and simply got lost along the way. But he did have to admit, the spicy scent of the stew was tantalizing even if he wasn’t sure about the ingredient list.

“Wonderful!” Winston cheered despite his worries since he was rather proud of Hana’s hard work. “Is it ready to eat?”

“Not yet! I have to do the proper preparations first!” Hana grabbed a bowl from the drying rack and dropped in a brick of ramen noodles before ladling the stew in. “You can’t add the noodles straight to the pot or they’ll get all weird and mushy. Don’t worry, the stew will soften them in half a sec. And hey, even if it doesn’t, there’s nothing like crunchy noodles! But before that we must add the secret ingredient. The last puzzle piece I had to twist Kyung-soo’s arm for.”

“Didn’t you beat him in a video game to get the recipe?”

“Yeah, but after I made it the first time I could tell something was missing. Don’t worry, I didn’t have to twist too hard! He totally started crying like right away; it was so sad. Now, prepare yourself!”

Hana waved her hands over the bowl before plopping down a bright yellow square right on top. Winston watched the square jiggle, seemingly unaffected by the hot stew below.

“Cheese?”

“American cheese.” Hana poked the cheese with a fork. It didn’t melt as much as it disintegrated. “The less like real cheese the better. I have no idea what they put in this stuff, but it like, binds the dish together and makes it creamy! Jae-eun puts two slices in his but I think that’s just to cut down on the spices. But then you have Seung-hwa who is like a spice champ, seriously, I need to see him go toe-to-toe with Jesse one day! I’d love to see-- see that.”

Winston never was great at reading humans, but even he couldn’t miss the distance in Hana’s voice. She wasn’t in the Watchpoint’s kitchen anymore. She was thousands of miles away and months ago. It was then Hana’s words from before hit Winston right in the heart. She couldn’t make budae jjigae alone. He gently touched her arm and hoped it was enough to bring her back to the present. 

“Did you and your teammates make this together often?”

Hana gave a half-hearted shrug. “It was part of our after-mission celebration. We’d all sit around the hot pot and eat together while talking about, well, anything but the mission.”

“That is a lovely tradition, Hana.” Winston picked up the bowl and stirred the stew with his fork. The not-really-cheese had vanished completely and in return did give it a creamier texture. “Would it be alright if we warm this up for when the other agents return home? Perhaps we could all enjoy it together.”

“Y-yeah. Sure.” Hana looked back at the pot and just so happened to wipe her eyes with her sleeve at the same time. “And maybe tell more dumb stories about Jesse?”

“Like when he ate six hard boiled eggs during Gérard and Amélie’s wedding rehearsal?” 

That got a chuckle out of Hana. Good. “Yeah I can totally see him doing-- wait, during the _rehearsal_? Like when everyone’s working out where they’re standing and stuff?”

Winston smiled. “Just wait until you hear about what he did during the wedding.”

Hana’s chuckle turned into a full fit of laughter. There was still exhaustion in her eyes, but it was as if a weight had been taken off her shoulders. As she tried to fight down her giggles, Winston risked a bite of the stew. All of the flavors hit him at once. The fatty meat, the sour kimchi, the spice of the chili paste soothed by a dash of mirin and whatever was in american cheese, all tangled up in the slightly crunchy noodles. An odd combination, he thought, but it worked. A bit like a certain group of people he knew.   
  


***

D.va’s **Budae Jjigae** Recipe*: 

Sauce: 

16 oz/4 cups Low Sodium Vegetable Broth 

2 Tbsp Fish Sauce 

2 Tbsp Gochujang (red chili paste) (can just use garlic chili sauce)

2 Tbsp Mirin (can substitute with white sugar)

2 Tbsp Soy Sauce 

Healthy Things: 

1 cup Kimchi 

12 oz Chopped Mushrooms (chef’s choice) 

½ medium yellow onion 

½ cup green onion 

½ cup Bean Sprouts (or any other veggies you’d like) 

8 oz of Firm Tofu 

Unhealthy Things: 

1 cup cubed Spam 

1 cup chopped smoked sausage 

½ cup chopped uncooked bacon 

1 Ramen brick per person (toss out seasonings) 

1 slice of American Cheese per person

First prep the tofu by cutting it into thin slices, wrapping it in paper towels, and putting a heavy weight (pans, canned food, gorillas) on top to get the moisture out. Put that aside and chop up the mushrooms, onions, spam, hot dogs and bacon into bite sized pieces. You can even chop up the kimchi if the chunks are too big.

In a large stockpot cook the spam, hot dogs and bacon until they start to get crispy along the edges. Add the sauce ingredients, stir until combined, and then add in everything else save for the ramen noodles and american cheese. Bring the stew to a boil on medium-high heat for about eight minutes. Then drop the temperature down to medium-low and put a lid on the stockpot to allow the stew to simmer for 20-30 minutes. 

Serve with a brick of ramen noodles and a slice of American Cheese. 

*This recipe is crazy flexible! Don’t like an ingredient? Take it out! Have some random vegetables to use up? Throw them in! Just make sure to always include the sauce ingredients and kimchi! 

Love, D.va!

**Author's Note:**

> If you haven't heard, [I've been going through some hard times](https://aughtpunk.com/2019/11/24/in-which-i-am-very-bored-at-a-psych-ward/). Thank you everyone so much for your kudos and comments. They always help pick me up when things get dark. Really. Love you all.
> 
> If you enjoy my writing please check out my other fics or head to [my website](https://aughtpunk.com/want-to-help-out/) for information on my non-fic writing and how to help me out while I'm putting my life back together.
> 
> Be sure to tag me as @AughtPunk on [Twitter,](https://twitter.com/aughtpunk) [Tumblr,](http://aughtpunk.tumblr.com) or [Pillowfort](https://www.pillowfort.social/AughtPunk) if you want to say hi, or ever make any fan content of my work. No need to ask permission, art and fic is always welcomed!


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